Benefit plans that provide partial or complete reimbursement of expenditures incurred by participants in the plan are commonly offered by employers, associations, commercial entities and the like, that sponsor such plans as fringe benefits for employees or members or as a commercial service available to the general public. Potential sponsors of benefit plans are often constrained by resource limitations when making decisions about plan design options in the plans they offer to their participants. Lack of understanding of the relative perceived benefits attributed by the participants to the particular plan design options frustrates the efforts of sponsors to provide participants the most desirable plan design options within given cost constraints.